Not applicable.
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to acoustic wave systems and more particularly to means for detecting of acoustic waves by means of electromagnetic radiation.
(2) Brief Description of the Prior Art
The detection and measurement of sound using lasers is well known. Essentially, a light beam is caused to pass through a medium, which may be air or water, and detect and process reflections from particles in the medium. These particles will tend to have approximately the same velocity as the particle velocity associated with an acoustic plane wave propagating through the medium. The particle velocity for the plane wave is P/(xcfx81oc), where P is the pressure amplitude, xcfx81o is the density and c is the speed of the sound in the medium. The elapsed time and the Doppler shift of the reflected beam indicate the locations and velocity of the scattering particle. This method is known as laser Doppler velocimetry and is reviewed by Vignola et al. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 90, 1275-1286, 1991. It has even been envisioned to create a xe2x80x9cvirtual arrayxe2x80x9d by processing multiple returns from a single beam and then appropriately delaying them to achieve a gain against noise.
Various patents describe means for making use of light to measure properties of acoustic waves. U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,225 to Shajenko, for example, discloses a dual beam hydrophone wherein a reference laser beam and a signal laser beam are both modulated simultaneously by the movement of reflecting surfaces responding to pressure variations due to an impinging acoustic wave. Each beam, travels the same path length within the hydrophone before being detected, thus eliminating any otherwise needed signal compensation. The reference beam and signal beam are acoustically modulated 180xc2x0 out of phase which reduces by one half the number of reflections normally required to produce the same sensitivity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,270 to Connolly discloses an apparatus and method for determining the velocity of sound propagation in a fluid as a function of position in the fluid along an axis. A wave of acoustic energy is transmitted along the axis to produce a disturbance that moves in the medium at the velocity of sound. A laser generator transmits a light pulse substantially along the axis through the fluid medium. As the light passes through the disturbance, light backscatters in a characteristic pattern that a detector senses for analysis to provide information concerning the distance traveled and the time of travel for the acoustic wave through the fluid medium and to provide a profile of output characteristic, such as the speed of sound in the medium, as a function of position in the medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,719 to Jacobs discloses a system in which a hydrophone employs a laser beam which is focused upon a small xe2x80x9cfocalxe2x80x9d volume of water in which natural light scattering matter is suspended and which matter vibrates in synchronism with any sonic waves present. The vibration produces a wave modulation of the scattered light, which may be recovered by optical heterodyne and sensitive phase detection techniques. The sonic waves are sensed at locations displaced from the focusing lenses. Because of this remote sensing capability, the physical hardware of an array of hydrophones may be confined to a small area comparable to the dimensions of the lenses themselves while the sensing of the sonic waves virtually occurs at widely spaced, remote focal volumes. Thus, by combining the signals from these remote focal volumes, a virtual array of hydrophones may be formed whose dimensions are large enough in relation to the sonic wavelengths of interest to achieve high directionality but without the penalties of hydrodynamic drag usually associated with large area arrays.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,704 to Berzins et al. discloses a probe which directs a light beam through a vapor plume in a first direction at a first angle ranging from greater than 0xc2x0 to less than 90xc2x0, reflecting the light beam back through the vapor plume at a 90xc2x0 angle, and then reflecting the light beam through the vapor plume a third time at a second angle equal to the first angle, using a series of mirrors to deflect the light beam while protecting the mirrors from the vapor plume with shields. The velocity, density, temperature and flow direction of the vapor plume may be determined by a comparison of the energy from a reference portion of the beam with the energy of the beam after it has passed through the vapor plume.
It will be appreciated that the measurement of same particle velocity is more effective in air than in water. The reason for this is that the ratio of the specific acoustic impedance, for the two mediums in approximately 4000. Therefore, the particle velocity of a scatterer will be 4000 times greater in air, leading to a much greater sensitivity. In water, Vignola et al. conducted experiments with standing waves that led to an estimate that particle displacements of 5 nm were detectable with this method. This is equivalent to a sound pressure level of 156 dB re: 1 xcexcPa at a frequency of 1809 Hz.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the efficiency of the measurement of the velocity of sound waves in a liquid medium by using lasers.
This invention makes use of a unique feature of water, i.e., entrained bubbles, to increase the Doppler shift of a scatterer by approximately three orders of magnitude.
Considering a single bubble in water, its resonant frequency f0 is given by:                     f        =                              1                          2              ⁢              π              ⁢                              xe2x80x83                            ⁢              a                                ⁢                                                    3                ⁢                γ                ⁢                                  xe2x80x83                                ⁢                                  P                  o                                                            ρ                0                                                                        (        1        )            
where a is the radius of the bubble, xcex3 is the ratio of specific heats of the air in the bubble (xcx9c1.4), Po is the steady-state pressure and xcfx81o is the density. Thus, a 1-mm radius bubble in water has a resonant frequency of approximately 3300 Hz. The amplitude of radial velocity of such a bubble at resonant frequency f0 is given by:                               U          0                =                              4            ⁢            π            ⁢                          xe2x80x83                        ⁢                          a              2                        ⁢                          P              i                                            Z            m                                              (        2        )            
At resonance Zm=Rm+Rr, where Rr=4xcfx80a2xcfx81oc(ka)2, and Rmxcx9c(1.6xc3x9710xe2x88x924) (4xcfx80a3xcfx81o) (2xcfx80f0)1/2. For the above bubble, the velocity amplitude is 3.49xc3x9710xe2x88x923Pi, compared to 6.7xc3x9710xe2x88x927Pi for a plane wave in water. The velocity ratio is estimated to be 5200 or a 74 dB change on a sound pressure level basis. The above radial velocity is actually the same order of magnitude as the particle velocity associated with a plane wave propagating in air.
Another factor applicable to this invention is that detectability improves with optical scattering strength, which increases with particle size. Bubbles are often much larger than microparticles normally used for scattering. For example, bubbles may be about 1 mm which in turn, microparticles may be 0.01-10 xcexcm.
In the present invention, it will be appreciated that the measurement of same particle velocity is more effective in air than in water. The reason for this is that the ratio of the specific acoustic impedance, for the two mediums in approximately 4000. Therefore, the particle velocity of a scatterer will be 4000 times greater in air, leading to a much greater sensitivity. In water, Vignola et al. conducted experiments with standing waves that led to an estimate that particle displacements of 5 nm were detectable with this method. This is equivalent to a sound pressure level of 156 dB re: 1 xcexcPa at a frequency of 1809 Hz.
The presence of such a bubble therefore greatly improves the practicality of laser Doppler velocimetry detection of sound in water. The present invention makes use of this effect in two primary ways. The first way consists of directing multiple beams in the region near the water surface where most bubbles reside. The reflections from bubbles would be appropriately delayed and summed, effectively forming a virtual volumetric array.
The second way of improving detection of sound in water using laser Doppler velocimetry involves a towed array consisting of a gel-filled hose containing bubbles with a radius distribution having an appropriate mean and variance for the frequency band of interest. The bubbles would respond to an incident sound filed and a laser inside the hose would simultaneously illuminate them.
The gel and bubble radii distribution is selected such that the desired resonant frequency band is maintained at the towed array depth range causing compression of the bubbles. Such a towed array has the potential to achieve a good sensitivity in a compact hose.
In the present invention, an apparatus is provided for measuring the velocity of a wave of acoustic energy in a given bandwidth along an axis. In the liquid medium, a laser transmits a light pulse to interact with the sound wave. Backscattered light from the interaction of the light pulse is received. A processor is then responsive to the detector to determine a distance traveled and time of travel for the acoustic wave through the fluid medium.